Silent solidarities: the Black nod and affective belonging among Black African immigrant men in Barcelona, Spain

This article explores the enactment of everyday solidarity among Black African immigrant men in Barcelona through subtle nonverbal gestures, with a particular focus on the nod. Drawing on qualitative street ethnography conducted between 2021 and 2023, the article analyzes how these brief, but important exchanges operate as affective practices of belonging within racialized European urban contexts. The article engages with Hall’s theory of cultural identity, Gilroy’s concept of the Black Atlantic and Ahmed’s framework of affective economies to conceptualize these nods and related silent gestures as diasporic micro-performances that affirm shared struggle, mutual recognition, and resistance to racial invisibility on the streets of Barcelona, Spain. Through its results, the analysis discusses three interrelated themes: ‘We are all Undocumented Immigrants’, ‘Brotherly Africanness and Joy’, and ‘Homesickness: Memories of Home’. These themes highlight how gestures, memory, and everyday affect produce counter-narratives within an Eurocentric space.